Kant on freedom and rational agency /
The idea of freedom plays a central role in Kant's philosophy. Kant explains that part of the treasure that his critical philosophy bequeath to posterity is that it saves human freedom from the mechanism of nature Bxxiv to Bxxxi. The system of the Critique of Pure Reason revolves around two car...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Oxford ; New York :
Oxford University Press,
[2023].
|
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | The idea of freedom plays a central role in Kant's philosophy. Kant explains that part of the treasure that his critical philosophy bequeath to posterity is that it saves human freedom from the mechanism of nature Bxxiv to Bxxxi. The system of the Critique of Pure Reason revolves around two cardinal points, as a system of nature and of freedom the concept of freedom even constitutes the keystone of the entire edifice of a system of pure reason. When we compare Kants account of freedom with his discussion of God and immortality of the soul, we find that he assigns freedom a strongly privileged role whereas God and immortality are matters of faith mere credible, the idea of freedom is the only metaphysical idea of reason that belongs to the matters of fact scribble. According to Manfred Kuehn's seminal biography this difference was also reflected in Kant's personal life he had no personal faith in God and immortality but the conviction that human reason must be free from fetters such as natural incentives, censorship and prejudices was central to the way in which he lived and philosophized. This conviction highlights an important difference between the ways in which the concept of freedom figures in Kant and in contemporary philosophy. What is at stake in the question of whether we are free agents in contemporary philosophy, this issue is typically consigned to specialized subfields such as the philosophy of action or cognate discussions of moral responsibility and punishment. While these topics are relevant to Kant as well, in his philosophy the notion of freedom has much larger ramifications. This is due to the inseparable connection that Kant forges between freedom and rationality. In Kant's mature mid 1780s and later view the question of whether we are free beings is tantamount to the question of whether we are autonomous subjects who can determine themselves by rendering and acting in accordance with objective rational judgments that yield genuine cognitive achievements. |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | x, 399 pages ; 25 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 375-390) and index. |
| ISBN: | 019887314X 9780198873143 |